The Pakistani Taliban shot dead two border troops in a remote region next to Afghanistan, an official said on Thursday, after the militant group scrawled graffiti throughout villages.
Militancy has surged again in the border regions with Afghanistan since the return to power of the Afghan Taliban in Kabul in 2021.
Most active are the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP), a separate but closely linked group that once controlled swaths of northwestern Pakistan until they were pushed back by a military operation that began in 2014.
Read more: French museum hit by 9.5 mn euro porcelain heist
A senior local government official in Swat, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity, said security forces launched an operation on Wednesday night.
“Following reports of wall chalkings by the TTP and that they were patrolling in the area, security forces launched an operation,” he said.
“An overnight exchange of fire ensued between the militants and security forces,” he said, adding that two border troops were killed and five others wounded.
Although exact figures are uncertain, he said the presence of TTP militants increased over the past two months, estimating that there are around 400 across several border districts in mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Graffiti bearing the TTP’s name appeared on buildings this week “to demonstrate their presence, intimidate locals, and boost the morale of militants already operating there”, the official said.
“Within just the last 10 days, nine security personnel have been martyred,” he said.
Residents said the graffiti had reawakened memories of TTP’s reign over the region during the peak of the US “War on Terror” that spilled across from Afghanistan.
The militant group accused the Pakistani state of facilitating the American campaign.
“I personally saw TTP wall chalkings on the local bridge,” She Ali, a 35-year-old private school teacher in the town of Matta in the Swat Valley, told AFP.
“The sight left me deeply shaken. It seems the TTP has returned. And if they really are back, then we have truly gone back to 2008.”
He described how, in 2008, the Taliban took over the area and carried out sweeping attacks.
“Seeing these incidents now brings back the fear that we might be returning to those days, when markets, mosques, and public places were bombed,” said Waseem Ahmad, a 28-year-old student in the nearby town of Timergara.
Last year was Pakistan’s deadliest in nearly a decade, with more than 1,600 deaths, nearly half of them soldiers and police officers, according to the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies.
Islamabad accuses its neighbour of failing to expel militants using Afghan territory to launch attacks on Pakistan, an accusation that authorities in Kabul deny.
Almost 450 people, mostly members of the security forces, have been killed since January 1 in attacks carried out by armed groups fighting the state, both in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southern province of Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.